1 Peter 1:17-23.                                Easter changes life!!                                                                                       19/4/15

               

¹⁷ Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. ¹⁸ For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. ²⁰ He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. ²¹ Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

²² Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. ²³ For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

This reading here this morning reminds us again that Easter changes life for us. Life is no longer the same for us who believe in Jesus and his death on the cross for us, and his resurrection from the dead. Our lives have now taken on a whole new and positive direction. We have a sure hope and a better way to live now as people who have been saved by our Lord Jesus Christ. We have been placed on a different road, which leads to life, hope, joy and oh so much more.

Since we have been saved in a most miraculous and extraordinary way from a life of hopelessness and hell, we now will surely want to live in a way that is good and helpful for us and for those around us: and especially since God has done such a great thing for us. We have in front of us the best life possible for us, now guaranteed.

So if that is the case why would we want go on living the old life that is harmful and destructive? Why would we want turn away from that which is good and helpful and go back to the struggles and futilities of a world that is wandering aimlessly from one foolish delusion to the next? Why would we want to put ourselves and others back in danger with the prospects of losing that which is truly life-giving and everlasting?  Yet, so often that is what we think we can do and get away with it.

To help us to see the stupidity of this I will use an illustration that only comes part way in understanding what danger we are placing ourselves and others in. Now you are going for a nice relaxing and safe drive out into the country for a lovely weekend. So you head up the South-Eastern Freeway on a lovely day with the prospects of a really great weekend ahead.

But us you head up through the scenic hills you see all the traffic heading on the down track back into the city. You figure to yourself that all those people must be heading to where the action is; but you forget that they are all heading to work for another day of drudgery and hassles. But that is what everyone else is doing so we will turn around and be a part of the action too.

So you stop there and then and turn around and head back down the hill, without even crossing over to the down track. You think that you can dodge the traffic coming head on and that all will be well.  ‘I have got it all under control, and I will be able keep myself and everyone else safe’. But naturally enough you don’t get far and a fatal accident occurs. All for what? Just to join the futility of what everyone else is doing.

Now if you don’t think that turning our backs on Easter and what Jesus has done for us through his death and resurrection is that bad, take a look around and see all the empty pews. Think about many of the people who used to sit there but have now turned away from God and his church. They thought that they would be OK and that it would not hurt theirs and others soul’s salvation, but in many cases we know otherwise.

They thought that they could follow the world around them and still come through safely; but in most cases not so. But again I say, for what? To go back to the perishable things of this life which are here today and gone tomorrow! To go back to the empty way of life handed down to us in our society.

No Jesus has died for us and for our salvation.  The precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect has taken the penalty for our sin on himself.  All a part of God’s whole intention and plan. We are told here that: He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Because God is all knowing, he knew already before he created the world that we would sin and go against him. But in his infinite wisdom he chose to send his Son into our world to set us free from the punishment that we deserve for our rebellion.

That is why we are today. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. We know now as a result of Easter that not only did Jesus die for us but that God raised him from the dead and glorified him. We know for sure that there is a God and that he has a plan for us. Jesus resurrection is a sure sign that here God is at work for good. As we heard over Easter, there is very reliable evidence of the certainty that this did happen.

Now think about all of this. If he knew all of this, and then had also planned a way out for us; and brought it to fruition through the death and resurrection of Easter, surely then he is reliable and true. We can trust that he has a plan and a future for us. We can know for sure that that there is a sure and certain future ahead for us.

We also know that this God is truly remarkable and is able to turn that which is bad into that which is super good. He can support us and keep us throughout the course of our troubled life here in a sinful world. He can even ensure that our death is not the end of the story for us. He assures us that all who are connected to him have the certainty of eternal life in heaven with him. There to enjoy an eternity that is free from all that is bad and evil.

We know then we can look to and call on, God our Father to help us through, no matter what we are facing. We know that he judges impartially. That is that he punishes all sin just as he said he would: Death and hell being the consequences. However we now know that Jesus took that punishment on himself so that we would not have to. Now all he looks at with regard to our judgement is; do we have faith in Jesus Christ. Do we trust in the fact that God in Jesus Christ and his death on the cross has won the victory over sin, death and the devil?

Knowing all of this then, that is why we now can call on God as Father, rather than a holy and just God who cannot tolerate sin and evil. We know that he lave and cares about each one of us and our smallest of needs. He wants what is best for us, and he wants to ensure that we are with him in heaven. So we can now approach him and call on him as a loving Father who takes care of all of our needs – especially of our need for the forgiveness of sins so that we can share eternity with him.

With that assurance we can live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. We can live each day knowing that this life here on earth is not the end of the story. We can live each day in the midst of the troubles of life knowing that God will only allow what he knows is good for us to happen. Because we are still sinful we need troubles to remind of our need for God and his forgiveness and for our strengthening of faith. As well he uses our troubles so that we can witness to others, all the God has done for us through Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection.

Yes we can now live knowing that God is using our life here for good and that our real eternal home awaits us at the completion of our life on this earth; whenever God deems that time to be right. So we are foreigners here in a sinful world know for certain that we have something far better ahead.

So we live each day in reverent fear. We humbly look to him as the one who is all important for us and for our welfare: he died in our place so that we might be with God: His love is so great that he would sacrifice his own Son so that we might be forgiven. At the same time we know that if we turn our backs on him, then he had better be afraid, for he tells us that if we do not have faith, we will receive eternal damnation in hell.

Knowing now all that God has done for us through Jesus’ death and resurrection we will now seek to go forward in the time that we have left here on this earth to  have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. We will do whatever we can for those around us with the love that God has extended to us. We will want to do what is best for them and that means most of all that we will want them to know how important the message of Easter is for them all.

We can now give our all for this task because we know that our salvation and eternal future is secure. No matter what, now Jesus Christ has won a place for us with him in heaven when our time is up here on this earth. We have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

So we can go forward with hope and confidence into each day of the rest of our lives knowing for certain that Jesus has died and risen again so that our eternal future is secure.  We now will set about seeking live and do as he would want us to, so that others may know this Good News and that all glory might go to him for all that he has done for us and for our salvation.

He truly is Lord of all lords and King of all kings, but he is also our loving Father and Saviour and Friend. So let us go forward as he would have us. Amen.

Pastor Roger Atze

Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish